If you do happen to end up in a tourist trap location and are looking for a good lunch restaurant, pick one where the local construction workers and police go to eat.
Does it actually work? My experience in Europe (well a few places at least) is that most blue collar workers don't eat lunch in a restaurant, it's way too expansive (and time consuming). They either pack it from home, go to the local grocery/convenience store or maybe hit a fast food place/cheap take away.
It might work better in cultures with a more developed eat-out culture like in Asia.
I mean, I used to work in SF, in North Beach¹. Fisherman's Wharf is the tourist trap, and it's like right there, and in the years I worked for, never ate there. (I've been there as a tourist though.)
For lunch we'd hike over the hill into little Italy, and there was a decent sandwich shop we'd get lunch at. (Freddy's) Before the hill there was a small asian couple who ran a small shop, they made a good mushroom stew. No idea if they're still in business, though, or what their place was called.
Neither were restaurants … you weren't going to be finding a seat at least inside. There's plenty of seating around SF though, if you know where to look.
¹although Google thinks NB is actually a bit W of where we were.
Wouldn't it make sense to use something like Google Maps, filter to the lowest one or two price categories, and go from there?
I'd figure Google Maps, being less explicitly targeted to tourists, would be likely to include reviews and pricing data relative to a local mentality, which might not be so willing to spend tourist prices.
It's easier, I suppose, if you're doing a walking/public transit oriented trip and are in a city-- if you don't like what you see when you close in, just go 50 metres further down the street.
I've travelled extensively in Europe, it being where I live, using all different strategies. I've never been ripped off. I've been to a hostel from someone we met at the train station in Prague. It was fine and good value. Also similar story at lake Balaton. It turns out protectively selling something is not synonymous with being a scam artist.
Yeah, I’ve also travelled extensively around Europe, west, central, and east, to some of the most touristy cities in the world, and never been ripped off. OK, my current hostel is charging €8.50 for a continental breakfast, so I just go elsewhere. I don’t think it’s a rip if you’re informed of
the price and choose to pay - that’s on you.
Unfortunately I have been ripped in SE Asia, and moreso in Central America, where prices were almost never displayed, and I was charged US prices for almost everything.
If it costs extra to work out a plan that doesn’t “rip you off,” and the easy path is full of “rip offs,” then maybe it is just paying a premium for convenience?
Even as a European I can confidently say that Euronet ATMs are complete, utter scam and they have a tendency to show up in most scammy tourist areas to prey on foreigners.
Even here across southern Europe they always start popping up in areas that usually have other seedy businesses preying on people. Lately they don't even show their brand and colors anymore... only showing foreign languaged "ATM" sign with no bank logo.
Same goes for Eastern Europe, and I have the same recommendation, avoid them like the plague.
Also (and maybe this only applies for Bucharest, but good to know regardless), avoid changing currency (USD to local RON, in Romania's case) just as you get off the airplane, the exchange rates inside the airport are rip-offs pure and simple. The currency exchange shops inside Bucharest proper are more than decent, though, no rip-offs there.
I tend to use an ATM inside the train station/airport and decline any DCC (dynamic currency conversion), that way I get my debit card's exchange rate, which I know is reasonable.
I made that map, and I'm not American. You can google "population density map Mallorca" and compare. I had the same assumption as you, so I googled it before publishing.
Not all tourists are Americans. I would expect the average person scammed by these ATMs is an European citizen from a different country.
I agree the map kinda sucks, because most of the island of Mallorca is a tourist trap at this point. But you can see how the interior's population centers, like Inca, Sa Pobla and Manacor, have none.
For a better example, as one of the replies to the tweet suggests, check using Google Maps around Barcelona. You can see sixteen of them crowded around Sagrada Familia, for example, and barely any in the mostly-residential neighbourhoods further north.
Most Europeans citizens use euros so they won't get 'scammed' by euronet ARMs, as the only 'scam' there is currency conversion (and fees if you use an 'out of network bank', so I think if you are at Boa it should be fine)
Yah, well. That's also true for the ATMs in Germany, operated by the 'Sparkasse' (usually big red S) or 'Volksbank/Raiffeisenbank' (usually orange/blue signage) when you want to withdraw cash as customer of the 'Cashgroup' (Deutsche-/Post-/Commerz-/Hypo-Vereinsbank). Hm, k, just 4EUR and 80cents. But still...
There are still quite a few countries in Europe that don't use the euro, so conversion is an issue there. And most Euronet ATMs have a high surcharge even when drawing euros from a euro account (this may differ per country and location).
HSBC refunds ATM fees, which is nice since they don’t have many ATMs in North America. Then I realized I can get by without using ATMs at all unless I’m traveling out of country.
In Australia and the UK there are no fees for withdrawing from a bank ATM (independent ATMs can still charge fees).
IMHO this is superior to the bank refunding you. It doesn’t cost the bank $2+ to allow you to access your own money from a different ATM, it’s just rent seeking.
I googled a little and found a Belorussian article [1] that says, that first it is an American company (despite the name), second, it targets tourists, and third, they use DCC (dynamic currency conversion), so that when you want to withdraw euros from account in euros, they do double conversion, e.g. euro -> USD -> euro with very unfavourable exchange rate.
they aren't even a scam if the American has a good bank
those ATMs give you a choice on how to do currency conversion and my bank will do withdrawals at spot rate! I check forex and futures charts and I get the same rate.
and other than that just a normal ATM fee the same as I would encounter in the states. some banks reimburse those too.
Most Europeans are used to zero or low ATM fees, at least when no conversion is needed. Our banks don't tend to do the fee and reimbursement dance that I've heard American banks do.
That said, I've noticed that when I withdraw a non-euro currency, my own bank fee has been creeping up and is approaching the conversion rate and fee offered by the ATMs, so maybe I need to change my policy about that in the future.
Very evident with this map that just appears to be a differently labeled population heat map.